Why? So? Serious?

According to Nationwide this kid
will never grow up to watch
an entertaining Super Bowl ad.

Man, it's gotten to the point where you don't even want to watch the Super Bowl for the commercials anymore, Am I right? Brands seem to have gone over board on the "we want to include dads" stuff to the point that they've tried to turn them into the new "thank you mom," which is all fine and good except why does every "dad ad" have to be so fucking depressing? Way to miss the marketing mark AGAIN.

The larger issue is that Super Bowl ads used to be memorable and none of the ones this year were. Well, except for the Clydesdales pining over and then protecting a lost puppy. Everything else? Too dire or too disposable. The biggest marketing moment of the year now takes itself so seriously it's a veritable snoozefest of unmemorable moment after moment.

Is this because digital ads / video are now top dog when it comes to taking chances and doing inventive stuff on a regular basis? Do the big boys feel their big broadcast ads need to be gargantuan affairs fraught with meaning and symbolism? I suspect that's part of the problem, but I also think clients want something that feels epic for the amount of money they're spending, but they do this at the expense of anything that remains authentically engaging. Which basically renders those millions of dollars they throw at agencies and into ad buys the equivalent of throwing that money into a paper shredder.

The only thing people will remember about this Super Bowl six months from now? Katy Perry's sharks.